San Jacinto, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Chapter 12.20 of the San Jacinto Municipal Code controls who can take down a tree or shrub on public land. The baseline is § 12.20.040: no person within the city, not authorized by the parks and recreation commission or by the chapter, shall plant, burn, mutilate, injure, destroy or remove any tree or shrub upon or from the public parks, public grounds, public streets or parking places. A resident in the City of San Jacinto who cuts down a parkway tree without that authorization breaks the code.

Section 12.20.060 then lists the only exceptions to the ban on planting or removing trees and shrubs on public parks, grounds, streets, alleys, ways and parking places. The traffic engineer has authority to remove trees or shrubs from any parkway or public parking place where, in his or her opinion, they constitute a hazard to traffic. The superintendent of public works has authority to remove them from any parkway, and only when they are in a dead, diseased, damaged or dangerous condition, or when they interfere with the construction or removal of buildings or the alignment or realignment of streets, highways, alleys or driveways within the city.

A council checkpoint follows. Under § 12.20.050, when the parks and recreation commission authorizes removal of a tree or shrubbery from public parks, grounds, streets, parkways or parking places, the work cannot be undertaken until after the next succeeding meeting of the city council following the authorization, at which meeting the council has an opportunity to act on it.

Replacement is built in. Under § 12.20.060(B), trees or shrubs removed to facilitate construction or removal of buildings are replaced, where possible or practical, at the expense of the person for whose convenience they were removed, and only with a tree or shrub approved by the parks and recreation commission. Section 12.20.080 adds that no person shall negligently or carelessly cause any shade or ornamental tree or shrub on the streets or sidewalks of the city to be injured or destroyed in violation of the article. The sections read here cover trees on public land.